If you’re not following grapefriend on Twitter, you may have missed these amazing grape gems this week! Nelson Mandela’s daughter and granddaughter are launching House of Mandela wines. His granddaughter Tukwini Mandela said: “The wine movement is growing.” Ohhhhhhhhhh yeah it is! Not sure how I missed this Clicquot Airstream thing, but it looks pretty awesome … Continue reading »
Guy Fieri recently bought a five-acre vineyard of Pinot Noir grapes in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley. Last year was the first vintage but right now he’s just selling grapes to La Crema and Williams Selyem who both have contracts with his vineyard. Ultimately, though, he wants to make his own wine of course. “Our son’s … Continue reading »
I may have previously thought that Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel drank shitty wine at their wedding (see: “Justin Timberlake probably drank shitty wine at his wedding“). But the evidence at that point seemed to be clear. Anyway, it has come to my attention that Justin and Jessica made their own custom blend for their … Continue reading »
Do you know why the Pilgrims were so awesome? The Mayflower was used mostly as a cargo ship in the trade of goods (often wine) between England and France. Wikipedia says so! So what wine did they drink at the first Thanksgiving? Well here’s the basic rule about Thanksgiving food and wine pairing: there is … Continue reading »
The last Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn – Part 2, doesn’t come out til Friday but of course Twihards are already camping out. Most of them probably aren’t even of drinking age, but I’ve seen interviews with people up to 48 years old. I just don’t even know what to say about that. But they could … Continue reading »
The whole week in Napa and Sonoma was awesome, but here were a few moments that were extra awesome. 1 drinking Cab Franc next to the vineyard where it came from We drink a lot of wine. But really it all comes down to one thing: a grape. People talk a lot about how that … Continue reading »
Most Sonoma Pinot’s I have at this point are so full of cherry I almost don’t like them. Not the Kutch ones. It’s much more elegant and layered, great acid to balance. When people say it’s a California Pinot done in the Burgundian style, they should use this as a touchstone. Jamie Kutch, the guy … Continue reading »
Happy first night in Napa with one of my favorite Pinot Noir producers, even if they’re in Sonoma… My absolute fave is the Manchester Ridge Vineyard one, but this was very tangy and cranberry, and had great acid for food pairing. Plus, it was my parents’ 50th anniversary! Was great to celebrate with some good … Continue reading »
You know how they used to say eat your Wheaties and you’d be strong like all the athletes on the cereal box? Well they should do it for wine, and namely Freeman Winery should put Eli Manning on their labels. The backstory on this photo goes down like this: Eli was at Redd, a restaurant in … Continue reading »
grape: Pinot Grigio. As most of you know I normally can’t stand the PG, but I was at a tasting yesterday and tried this one and liked it. producer: Laird (liked all the wines I tried from them) country: USA region: Carneros (Sonoma side), Cold Creek Ranch year: I tasted the 2009 but the 2010 is out now price: $20 yum … Continue reading »
